![]() | Current Issues | No.51 September 2007 |
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Oscar Pistorius was born on 22 November 1986 without fibula. Before he
was 1 year old, his parents had to take an agonising decision to amputate
his legs below the knee. He led a normal life, went to mainstream schools
and in about 2002 was discovered by another Paralympic amputee athlete,
Fanie Lombaard, playing rugby. He apparently had no problems, except having
to retrieve his legs when they fell off in the somewhat physical game,
and also played waterpolo. He competed for the first time in an event
for the disabled in March 2004 in the 100m and 200m making the qualification
times. He competed on helicopter blades which were adapted to be prosthetic
legs. In about July 2004, he went to the USA, invited by a top US Paralympian,
to get a new set of blades on which he competed in Athens where he won
gold in the 200m and bronze in the 100m against athletes with only one
leg amputated. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.
In January 2007, it became clear that Oscar was going full out to challenge
the system to be allowed to compete in the Olympics. Perhaps we need to
take a proactive approach, both in SA and internationally, to push the
line of inclusion and saying that we should be finding ways, as the athletics
family, to include the disabled in our events wherever we can. Oscar,
this past season, has competed in our national athletics able-bodied track
series and this should be used as an example. Further, our national athletics
organisation has included athletes with a disability in its events on
an invitational basis. In 2006, athletes with and without a disability
were equally recognised by Athletics South Africa when performances in
the Melbourne Commonwealth Games were acknowledged.
We should also remember that disabled athletes competing in the Olympic
Games is not a new phenomenon. For several Olympics, the IAAF has included
a demonstration event for wheelchair racers in the 1 500m for men and
800m for women. Over and above that, in the 1960s, a wheelchair athlete
competed in the archery event in the Olympic Games and similarly, in the
early 20th Century, an arm amputee competed in the track events.
The issues here are complex:
At the end of the day, Oscar is a good athlete - bottom line! He also
has a right to dream.
Ultimately, this also provides an opportunity to push nationally and internationally
for federations to embrace the disabled into their fold including ensuring
the same services being provided by them to athletes without a disability
be extended to those with a disability.
Another issue is that in the USA, there is a wheelchair young woman who
is fighting for her right to compete in the state and national athletics
championships. Her problem is that there is no-one competing against her
- another wheelchair athlete. Like the African-Americans, she is fighting
for her rights and she is being ostracised by some. She is taking the
issue through the courts and thus ending up getting people opposing her.
Again the issue is embracing change rather than trying to avoid it and
that is something that we need to do. Like the fight for equality in the
USA (and here) for equal rights for persons of colour, then women, then
those with a different sexual orientation etc, we cannot run away from
ensuring that the rights of disabled people are (re)claimed.
We can also refer to the new UN Convention signed in March 2007 committing
several signatory countries to address the rights of the disabled in all
spheres of life and this issue is as good a place to start as any.
The following article appears on the front page of today's New York Times
with a near full page spread included on page 21. This article, to me,
suggests the following:
An Amputee Sprinter: Is He Disabled or Too-Abled?
New York Times
By JERA LONGMAN MANCHESTER, England, May 14 - As Oscar Pistorius of South Africa crouched
in the starting blocks for the 200 meters on Sunday, the small crowd turned
its attention to the sprinter who calls himself the fastest man on no
legs. Pistorius wants to be the first amputee runner to compete in the
Olympics. But despite his ascendance, he is facing resistance from track
and field's world governing body, which is seeking to bar him on the grounds
that the technology of his prosthetics may give him an unfair advantage
over sprinters using their natural legs.
His first strides were choppy Sunday, a necessary accommodation to sprinting
on a pair of j-shaped blades made of carbon fiber and known as Cheetahs.
Pistorius was born without the fibula in his lower legs and with other
defects in his feet. He had both legs amputated below the knee when he
was 11 months old. At 20, his coach says, he is like a five-speed engine
with no second gear.
Yet Pistorius is also a searing talent who has begun erasing the lines
between abled and disabled, raising philosophical questions: What should
an athlete look like? Where should limits be placed on technology to balance
fair play with the right to compete? Would the nature of sport be altered
if athletes using artificial limbs could run faster or jump higher than
the best athletes using their natural limbs?
Once at full speed Sunday, Pistorius handily won the 100 and 200 meters
here at the Paralympic World Cup, an international competition for disabled
athletes. A cold, rainy afternoon tempered his performances, but his victories
came decisively and kept him aimed toward his goal of the 2008 Summer
Olympics in Beijing, even though international track officials seek to
block his entrance.
Since March, Pistorius has delivered startling record performances for
disabled athletes at 100 meters (10.91 seconds), 200 meters (21.58 seconds)
and 400 meters (46.34 seconds). Those times do not meet Olympic qualifying
standards for men, but the Beijing Games are still 15 months away. Already,
Pistorius is fast enough that his marks would have won gold medals in
equivalent womenA's races at the 2004 Athens Olympics. PistoriusA's time
of 46.56 in the 400 earned him a second-place finish in March against
able-bodied runners at the South African national championships. This
seemingly makes him a candidate for the Olympic 4x400-meter relay should
South Africa qualify as one of the worldA's 16 fastest teams.
"I don't see myself as disabled," said the blond, spiky-haired
Pistorius, a former rugby and water polo player who declines to park in
spaces reserved for the disabled. "There's nothing I can't do that
able-bodied athletes can do."
An Equalizer or an Edge?
Still, the question persists: Do prosthetic legs simply level the playing
field for Pistorius, compensating for his disability, or do they give
him an inequitable edge via what some call techno-doping? Experts say
there have been limited scientific studies on the biomechanics of amputee
runners, especially those missing both legs. And because Pistorius lost
his legs as an infant, his speed on carbon-fiber legs cannot be compared
with his speed on natural legs. Track and field's world governing body,
based in Monaco and known by the initials I.A.A.F., has recently prohibited
the use of technological aids like springs and wheels, disqualifying Pistorius
from events that it sanctions. A final ruling is expected in August.
The International Olympic Committee allows governing bodies to make their
own eligibility rules, though it can intervene. Since 2004, for example,
transgender athletes have been allowed to compete in the Olympics. "With
all due respect, we cannot accept something that provides advantages,"
said Elio Locatelli of Italy, the director of development for the I.A.A.F.,
urging Pistorius to concentrate on the Paralympics that will follow the
Olympics in Beijing. "It affects the purity of sport. Next will be
another device where people can fly with something on their back."
Others have questioned the governing body's motivation. "I pose a
question" for the I.A.A.F., said Robert Gailey, an associate professor
of physical therapy at the University of Miami Medical School, who has
studied amputee runners. "Are they looking at not having an unfair
advantage? Or are they discriminating because of the purity of the Olympics,
because they don't want to see a disabled man line up against an able-bodied
man for fear that if the person who doesn't have the perfect body wins,
what does that say about the image of man?" According to Gailey,
a prosthetic leg returns only about 80 percent of the energy absorbed
in each stride, while a natural leg returns up to 240 percent, providing
much more spring. "There is no science that he has an advantage,
only that he is competing at a disadvantage," Gailey, who has served
as an official in disabled sports, said of Pistorius. Foremost among the
I.A.A.F.'s concerns is that Pistorius' prosthetic limbs may make him taller
than he would have been on natural legs and may unfairly lengthen his
stride, allowing him to lower his best times by several seconds in the
past three years, while most elite sprinters improve by hundredths of
a second.
"The rule book says a foot has to be in contact with the starting
block," Leon Fleiser, a general manager of the South African Olympic
Committee, said. "What is the definition of a foot? Is a prosthetic
device a foot, or is it an actual foot?" I.A.A.F. officials have
also expressed concern that Pistorius could topple over, obstructing others
or injuring himself and fellow competitors. Some also fear that, without
limits on technological aids, able-bodied runners could begin wearing
carbon-fiber plates or other unsuitably springy devices in their shoes.
Among ethicists, Pistorius' success has spurred talk of "transhumans"
and "cyborgs." Some note that athletes already modify themselves
in a number of ways, including baseball sluggers who undergo laser eye
surgery to enhance their vision and pitchers who have elbow reconstruction
using sturdier ligaments from elsewhere in the body. At least three disabled
athletes have competed in the Summer Olympics: George Eyser, an American,
won a gold medal in gymnastics while competing on a wooden leg at the
1904 Games in St. Louis; Neroli Fairhall, a paraplegic from New Zealand,
competed in archery in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles; and Marla Runyan,
a legally blind runner from the United States, competed in the 1,500 meters
at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. But Pistorius would be the first amputee
to compete in a track event, international officials said. A sobering
question was posed recently on the Web site of the Connecticut-based Institute
for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. "Given the arms race nature
of competition," will technological advantages cause "athletes
to do something as seemingly radical as having their healthy natural limbs
replaced by artificial ones?" wrote George Dvorsky, a member of the
institute's board of directors. "Is it self-mutilation when you're
getting a better limb?"
Limits and Accommodations
Historically, the I.A.A.F. has placed limits on devices that assist athletes.
It prohibits an array of performance-enhancing drugs. And it does not
allow wheelchair athletes into the Olympic marathon, given that wheels
provide a clear advantage in speed. But the governing body has also embraced
technological advances. For instance, it permits athletes to sleep in
tent-like devices designed to simulate high altitude and increase oxygen-carrying
capacity. As disabled athletes improve their performances, the I.A.A.F.
is certain to be faced with more decisions about accommodating them. Last
February, Jeff Skiba, who has one leg amputated below the knee, competed
in the high jump at the United States indoor track and field championships.
Some I.A.A.F. officials say Pistorius' application should not be treated
dismissively. Although he would not be considered a medal candidate, his
appearance at the Beijing Games could provide an inspiring story. "There
is no real grounds to say he should not be allowed to compete" in
the Olympics, said Juan Manuel Alonso of Spain, who heads the I.A.A.F.'s
medical and antidoping commission. "We'd like to have more information
and biomechanical studies." His own fear, Pistorius said, is that
the governing body, which has not contacted him, will ban him on supposition,
not science. "I think they're afraid to do the research," Pistorius,
a business student at the University of Pretoria, said. "They're
afraid of what they're going to find, that I don't have an advantage and
they'll have to let me compete." Pistorius, whose stated height is
6 feet 1 ? inches while wearing his sprinting prosthetics, says that the
devices are within an allowed range determined by the length of his thighs.
The peak length of his stride, he said, is 9 feet, not 13 feet as some
I.A.A.F. officials suggest. There are many disadvantages to sprinting
on carbon-fiber legs, Pistorius and his coach said. After a cumbersome
start, he needs about 30 meters to gain his rhythm. His knees do not flex
as readily, limiting his power output. His grip can be unsure in the rain.
And when he runs into a headwind or grows fatigued, he must fight rotational
forces that turn his prosthetic devices sideways, said Ampie Louw, who
coaches Pistorius. "The I.A.A.F. has got no clue about disabled sport,"
said Louw, who has coached Pistorius since 2003. Insufficient credit is
given to Pistorius' resolve in the weight room and on the track, Louw
said, describing one intense workout that requires him to run 350 meters
in 42 seconds; 300 meters in 34.6 seconds; 200 meters in 22 seconds and
150 meters in 15.4 seconds. "The kid is a born champion," Louw
said. "He doesn't settle for second best." Having worn prosthetics
since infancy, Pistorius did not have to adjust to artificial legs after
he began competing, as many disabled athletes do. He won a gold medal
in the 200 at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens. "These have always
been my legs," he said. "I train harder than other guys, eat
better, sleep better and wake up thinking about athletics. I think that's
probably why I'm a bit of an exception." One who is attempting to
broaden the definition of an Olympic athlete. "You have two competing
issues - fair competition and basic human rights to compete," said
Angela Schneider, a sports ethicist at the University of Western Ontario
and a 1984 Olympic silver medalist in rowing. The I.A.A.F. must objectively
define when prosthetic devices "go from therapy to enhancement,"
Schneider said. The danger of acting hastily, she said, is "you deny
a guy's struggle against all odds - one of the fundamental principles
of the Olympics."
Contact
Alison Burchell
General Manager Disability Sport South Africa South Africa Email: burchell@mweb.co.za ![]() http://www.icsspe.org/portal/index.php?w=1&z=5 |